Rand Paul to headline “conservatarian” tech gathering in San Francisco

A likely 2016 GOP presidential candidate is coming to San Francisco this summer and — stop the presses — not to raise money. Well, no fundraiser are scheduled yet for Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY when he rolls into town in July.

Also scheduled to be there is Nick Gillespie, editor in chief of Reason.org and Reason TV, the libertarian media hubs, and Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, R-WA, who will be “trying to see how Congress can adapt some of these (tech) tools to what they’re doing,” co-organizers Aaron Ginn told me. Also on the lineup is Joe Green, former Harvard roommate of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and co-founder of the issue advocacy group fwd.us. He’ll be there to talk about tech and immigration reform.

Why is this conference going down in the belly of the liberal beast? First, because wunderkind conservatarian co-organizers Ginn and Garrett Johnson live in the Bay Area and work at local tech firms. Plus, it’s easier to tap into politically closeted Silicon Valley conservatarians if you hold the event close to their closet.

If all this conservatarian talk has got you jonesing for more, here is an onstage conversation I had with Gillespie and his Reason colleague Matt Welch for the Commonwealth Club in 2011.